After finishing practice but before obliging autograph and media requests, Matt Schaub jogged over to a corner of the field at the Ihilani Resort, trading one huddle of familiar faces for another.
At the end of a long season, Schaub will take any opportunity to squeeze in some family time.
“That’s the key thing to coming out here, because the family sacrifices so much during the season for me,” Schaub said after spending a few minutes chasing his daughters around the field. “To bring everyone out here and enjoy a relaxing week, it’s so much fun.”
Schaub’s second Pro Bowl, but his first in Hawaii, certainly has a touch of home for the Houston Texans quarterback.
Schaub is one of nine Texans on the AFC roster, the highest concentration of representatives from one team in town for Sunday’s game at Aloha Stadium.
When he walks to the line of scrimmage on Sunday, Schaub could have running back Arian Foster behind him with receiver Andre Johnson split out wide and tight end Owen Daniels on the end of an offensive line featuring tackle Duane Brown, guard Wade Smith and center Chris Myers.
When they leave the field, defensive end J.J. Watt and cornerback Johnathan Joseph represent the Texans’ defense.
“It says a lot about where our team has come in 10 years of its existence,” Schaub said. “To have nine guys out here is special; you don’t find that very often.”
The Texans’ selections came as recognition for a season in which they went 12-4 in the regular season, claimed a second straight AFC South title and reached the divisional round of the playoffs before losing to New England.
In his ninth NFL season and sixth in Houston, Schaub completed 64 percent of his passes while throwing for 4,008 yards and 22 touchdowns.
“We’ve come a long way to win the division back-to-back years, win a playoff game back-to-back years,” Schaub said. “Obviously we want to put ourselves in a better position to win a championship by having a bye and making a run at the Super Bowl. We have all the makings of it; we just have to finish better. We like where we’re at.”
Schaub’s first Pro Bowl experience came in Miami Gardens, Fla., where he earned game MVP honors in 2010. Though he’s enjoying his first Hawaii-based Pro Bowl this week, Schaub’s introduction to Aloha Stadium came in 2000, when he made a relief appearance as a Virginia freshman in the Jeep Oahu Bowl.
This time around he’s sharing the island experience with his parents and wife, Laurie, and their three daughters.
“We try to make as much family time as possible. It’s important for him to have some normalcy during the season,” said Laurie Schaub, “But this (trip) is extremely important.”
So far they’ve enjoyed “a lot of beach time and pool time with dad and coming out to practice has been extremely special just so the girls can see where daddy works,” she said.
As Schaub spends time with family, his stay also offers a chance to connect with fellow AFC quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.
“It’s really cool. You speak the same language as quarterbacks in this league,” Schaub said. “You get to talk about playing against one another and things that happen over the course of the season. It’s just really neat to get their feedback.”
